The present invention relates generally to mailing forms and procedures as used for keeping track of mailed items for insurance purposes, for confirmation of delivery to a customer, and/or for record keeping purposes. Some mailing procedures with which this invention is particularly concerned are known as certified and registered mail.
In any business a large number of items and/or correspondence is mailed to customers on a daily basis. Some, if not all, of these mailings must be tracked for various reasons, for example for insurance purposes in the case of items of value. The paperwork needed to keep track of business mailings via certified or registered mail, or even simply to record standard mailings, is lengthy and tedious to complete, particularly in the case of large businesses with bulk mailings on a daily basis.
In my U.S. Pat. No. 4,682,793, a continuous mailer form is described which is particularly designed to meet Post Office certified mail requirements. The multiple layers of the form include all the paperwork required for simultaneous completion of a mailing label, customer receipt, and return receipt for each item mailed. Thus, all the paperwork required for each item to be mailed on a particular occasion can be filled out in one pass simply by running the continuous form through a computer printer or typewriter and entering the respective customer addresses on each form, detaching the forms on completion and attaching the mailing address, item identification number (e.g. the certified mail number), and return receipt to the respective items to be mailed.
However, even this procedure still requires a relatively large amount of manual paperwork to compute postage, to keep records of mailings and receipt numbers, and to track when receipts are returned. The current process for preparing registered or certified articles for mailing, and for other types of mail tracking procedures, requires the typing, handwriting or computer generation of an address label which typically includes at least the addressee's name and address, as well as an identifying file number. This label is then attached to the article to be mailed, either by affixing it to the exterior of the article or as an insert into a window envelope. In the case of registered or certified mail, the Postal Service approved label carrying the certified or registered mail number must also be affixed to the package. The same identifying number must be entered by the user on the return postcard, either by hand or using a typewriter. The type of service (certified, registered, insured,etc.) must also be checked off on the return postcard, and the addressee section completed. Finally, the return address must be entered on the reverse side of the postcard before affixing it to the item to be mailed. The sender must also prepare the paperwork required both for internal record keeping and to satisfy Postal Service requirements. This includes the addressee, type of mailing, actual value, postage, and identifying number for each item mailed. This is typically done by hand, which is a lengthy and tedious procedure and often gives rise to errors, potentially resulting in loss of coverage if the item should be lost.